


Math

by brandywine421



Series: Unfinished AUs of Flail (aka fail) [14]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, smart!steve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-19
Updated: 2016-11-19
Packaged: 2018-08-31 21:54:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8595190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brandywine421/pseuds/brandywine421
Summary: He hesitated.  "I don't know.  I don't know if I'm cut out for teaching math to a bunch of grad students.  The kids in my art class treat me like a leper and the, no offense intended, 'math geeks' aren't exactly friendly to guys that look like me."
Bruce blinked at him.  "Are the other kids being mean to you, Steve?"
"Shut up," Steve huffed, crossing his arms.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I started this as a warm-up to Nano 2016 in October, but my attention span fizzled out with all the math research. Math, why you gotta do me like that?

Steve watched Bruce through the glass partition, waiting until he didn't have any glass containers or test tubes in his hands before tapping on the window to catch his attention.  
  
"Hey, give me a minute.  You'll contaminate the place if I invite you in right now," Bruce smiled politely.  Steve gave him a thumbs-up.  
  
He'd been getting along okay on his own for the past few months after the ice and the aliens; but he trusted Bruce for his pragmatism over his other 'grown up' friends.  Hell, Bruce and Tony were almost twice his age, minus the hibernation.  Bruce didn't tease and insult him for asking stupid questions so he defaulted to him for advice when necessary.  
  
This didn't seem like the kind of advice he could get from Natasha or Clint anyway and he was doing his best at keeping the rest of SHIELD out of his private life whenever possible.  
  
He distracted himself with his phone, those pesky gumdrops wouldn't match themselves and found Bruce smiling at him in amusement when he glanced up again.  "Oh, hey."  
  
"Hey.  What brings you down here?" Bruce replied, curious.  
  
"You know me, always out for free advice.  I had a couple of questions for you."  
  
"I'm all yours, for the next forty-three minutes," Bruce replied easily.  "I need to hydrate, so let's walk to the break room.  Haven't seen you around so much lately, SHIELD keeping you busy?"  
  
Steve snorted.  "They wish.  They're still pushing me to sign on but I, kind of, like the whole consultant gig so far.  I mean, I'm not a spy and I'm not the kind of soldier they think I am.  I've been trying out the civilian life."  
  
"How's that working out?"  
  
He shrugged and took note of the brand of tea Bruce chose to gauge his mood.  The experiment must be going well.  "Good, I think.  It's definitely opened up some opportunities I haven't considered before, which is why I'm bothering you for advice."  
  
Bruce took a seat across from him.  "Good opportunities, I hope."  
  
"Maybe.  I had a high school diploma and a couple of art credits before I enlisted so I took the SAT and a shit-ton of aptitude tests and enrolled in some college courses.  Mostly online, at first," Steve started.  "I had a few degrees before I signed the lease on my new place and when I started going to lectures in person, it got easier to be around normal people, I guess.  At first."  
  
"That's great - wow."  
  
He avoided his gaze.  "Maria helped me with the cover story."  
  
"You trust her?" Bruce asked automatically.  
  
Steve nodded.  "Enough.  I know she's loyal to SHIELD over everything else, but I trust her as much as I trust Natasha.  Enough."  
  
Bruce scanned him thoughtfully.  "Huh."  
  
"She's teaching me how to Netflix and chill," Steve added.  
  
Bruce laughed, "Well, Cap, it doesn't sound like you need any advice from me."  
  
He smiled.  "Not about that.  I have this offer to be a visiting professor at a school.  Well, they wanted me to be a research fellow but Maria said I should play hard to get and now they want to pay me and I don't understand how it all works."  
  
Bruce wrinkled his forehead.  "What kind of professor?"  
  
Steve glanced at the doorways and acknowledged the cameras.  "Um.  I used to have drinks with Alan Turing.  And Kurt Göbel?  He was a weird guy, but smart as hell.  We talked a lot of math, theories that they worked out after I was gone."  
  
Bruce swallowed thickly.  "Tea.  Then maybe I can process that."  
  
"Believe it or not, the scientists in the 40's weren't really concerned with what the serum did for my brain," Steve laughed.  
  
"How would that work?  Are you published?" Bruce started.  
  
"Online under a fake name, if that counts," Steve replied.  
  
Bruce scrubbed a hand across his face.  "That counts if they're offering you a position.  Why don't we have drinks and talk about math?"  
  
Steve smiled.  "Because you never leave your lab?"  
  
Bruce conceded his point.  "What's the course?"  
  
"They want me to talk about Göbel's incompleteness theorems," Steve said.  
  
"Of course they do," Bruce muttered.  "Shit, Steve.  You should do it."  
  
He hesitated.  "I don't know.  I don't know if I'm cut out for teaching math to a bunch of grad students.  The kids in my art class treat me like a leper and the, no offense intended, 'math geeks' aren't exactly friendly to guys that look like me."  
  
Bruce blinked at him.  "Are the other kids being mean to you, Steve?"  
  
"Shut up," Steve huffed, crossing his arms.

* * *

  
"I can't believe I'm dating a math geek," Maria muttered, her head lolled on her arms crossed on his counter.  "You're making fingerfoods for a dinner party.  You're supposed to be more of a badass."  
  
He put a cracker on her nose.  "I am a very public badass.  You're the one that wanted to snoop into the man behind the SHIELD and got attached."  
  
She stuck out her tongue and flipped the cracker off her nose into her mouth.  "I'm not on your surveillance detail anymore."  
  
"It's kind of funny to watch Sharon pretend to be a nurse.  She doesn't even have on the right kind of orthopedic shoes for that," Steve replied.  
  
Maria huffed out a laugh.  "I'll make a note of it for the wardrobe team."  
  
"I'm glad you're staying tonight.  The dean's and department head are both bringing their wives and you make me look respectable," Steve said, switching on the oven to preheat while he spent some quality time flirting.  
  
"Yeah right.  I used the GI Bill for a degree in hospitality management," Maria replied dryly.  
  
"Sure," Steve smiled.  She was such a liar.  
  
Maria raised her eyebrow.  "I did!  My dad has it in his trophy room."  
  
"Is that what SHIELD calls advanced firearms and martial arts training on paper?  Hospitality," he snickered.  "That's not even a real thing."  
  
"Looks nice on his wall, though," she shrugged.  "Are you sure you want to go through with this?"  
  
"I'm making canapes," Steve replied.  "That means I'm pretty sure."  
  
She sighed.  "That means I have to talk business.  As a consultant for SHIELD, we'd prefer if you were available at any time, which would include your working hours at the university.  If your new employers would be willing to sign NDA's and agree to let you leave in case of emergencies then we'll match your salary with a donation to the school."  
  
He narrowed his eyes at her.  "You're just bringing this up now?"  
  
She shrugged.  "I was hoping I wouldn't have to bring work into it, that you'd just lecture or something, not want a full course.  Fury figures you'll be getting calls from all over to guest-lecture once you go public, so he has paperwork in place so you can see that SHIELD fully supports your career in academia."  
  
"I'm going to rescind your invitation and invite the nurse instead."  
  
Maria frowned.  "But.  Canapes."

* * *

  
"You have a very lovely home," Mrs. Tanner said politely, shaking his hand after a short walkthrough of his main room.  Dean Tanner and Dr. Regan were delayed by window, hissing whispers at each other.  Maria cleared her throat and Steve shook off his nerves and gave Mrs, but another doctor, Regan a handshake, too.  
  
He needed to retake proper etiquette if he was going to be able to use all the right addresses.  "It's a good location and my neighbors have been great."  
  
"You definitely don't look like the scholarly type," Mrs. Regan said, leering at him until Maria cleared her throat again.  "Sorry, I forget that I'm on good behavior tonight.  Doug has his heart set on getting you on the roster before someone else does."  
  
"Ladies, if you'll follow me, I'll show you where he keeps the good wine," Maria said, giving him a pointed look that sent him over to the two men.  
  
"You look like you have questions," Steve said, visibly surprising the two men considering their jolts.  
  
"Oh, well.  We weren't expecting to find such a collection," Dean Tanner said, motioning to the medal case that he thought he'd covered with a shawl earlier.  
  
"They're great replicas.  I'm a little insulted that you're hiding them away," Dr. Regan said.  
  
"There's a reason for that," Steve replied.  "See, I'm not just a guy that likes to talk about math online.  I have another job, a consulting job.  It's been requested that I bring it up before I sign anything."  
  
Dean Tanner looked crestfallen.  "We'll work with your hours, what are the conditions?"  
  
"Mind signing a nondisclosure agreement?  I'd really like to accept your offer, but you may reconsider altogether when you find out my story," Steve said.  
  
The two men glanced at each other.  "It may be worth it just to find out your story," Tanner said.  "I knew there had to be a story for you to just come out of nowhere."  
  
"The internet is amazing," Steve said, holding out the two officially stamped contracts.  "I learned so much the first time I got online."  
  
Regan looked at him suspiciously and opened his mouth to question him but Tanner shoved a pen in his face.  "Sign it."  
  
Steve laughed and bent down to unlatch the case.  He moved aside the Medal of Honor and purple hearts to slide open the second level with his notebooks.  
  
"Okay, so we won't talk about whatever you tell us.  What's the story?" Dean Tanner asked.  
  
Steve carefully put the thin, yellowed papers on the desk.  "Howard Stark saved these for me.  I don't think he ever looked through them, but he was more into the practical use of math than the theoretical.  I looked up Kurt and Alan when I was revived.  See, I was gone a few decades for classified reasons."  
  
Dr. Regan blanched.  "You mean, your name's not just a coincidence?"  
  
"Not so much.  Because of my unique situation, I have ties to some goverment agencies that might make me miss class occasionally," Steve said.  
  
"You.  Captain America.  You - you just solve unsolvable equations in your spare time?" Tanner whispered, stunned.  
  
Steve shrugged.  "I have a lot of spare time since most of my friends are dead or octogenarians.  I'm an artist, that was always my talent - I only got smart when I got bigger.  Art wasn't something I could experience in the middle of air raids, but Howard got all these journals delivered and I'd hide in his lab and read.  Alan, Dr. Turing, he was a friend.  Göbel was a little, well, unsteady when we would talk but I think everyone was a little shell-shocked by the war.  Anyway," he cleared his throat.  "I still have a lot to catch up on but I think I want to try this teaching thing."  
  
"Taking into account when you crashed and if you only came back around the time of the incident - there's so much you have to learn," Regan said, grabbing his arm.  "You can't teach anything because you have to learn everything first."  
  
That's what he was afraid of.  
  
"Jacob, shut up," Dean Tanner said pulling his hand away gently.  "This does change things, Steve.  For the better, I hope.  You're mostly self-taught and haven't had much experience with this century's teaching methods.  I suggest we set you up on a lecture schedule, on Göbel, like we already discussed but also we a series of 'Labs' where you and your students work through problems collaboratively."  
  
Maria appeared in the doorway.  "We finished the '47 red.  Oops."

* * *

  
"All right, guys, settle down.  This isn't a debrief or a mission meeting so everyone can just relax," Steve said.  
  
"But Agent Hill's here," Clint said, watching Maria warily across the room where she was painting her nails.  
  
"She's not on my surveillance team, Sharon, I mean, Agent 13 is on that.  She's here because we have tickets to the new Batman in Space movie at midnight," Steve said.  
  
Natasha turned to him with dark eyes.  "Captain.  I know you don't mean - "  
  
"How the hell did you get tickets?" Clint interrupted.  
  
"I know a guy," Maria answered, not hiding her eavesdropping.  "I'm not on the clock and I do what I want."  
  
"Sometimes that's me," Steve said.  She flipped him off.  Bruce chuckled softly and Natasha turned her suspicious eyes to him.  
  
"So all this time I've been trying to set you up and you're banging our superior officer?" Natasha asked.  
  
Steve sighed.  "This meeting's not about my sex life."  
  
Tony appeared with a bright grin.  "Obviously this is a meeting I should have been on time for, what's this about the Captain's sex life?"  
  
Steve scrubbed a hand over his face but he didn't miss Clint giving Maria a high five before he took a seat on Steve's comfiest chair.  "None of that's important.  I just wanted to do a sit-rep while we're all still in the city."  
  
"What about Thor?" Bruce asked.  
  
"He already knows.  He used all his girlfriend's data for the month so he isn't Skyping in like we planned," Steve explained.  "He's coming into town in a few weeks and I'm sure he'll say hello to whoever's nearby."  
  
"That Darcy girl's not staying with you this time, is she?  She makes my teeth itch," Maria muttered, blowing on her toes.  
  
Steve planned on breaking the news about his houseguest later but she would be insufferable if he wasn't up front right away.  "No, but Dr. Selvig's going to hang out.  He finally agreed to get some counseling if I can, and I quote 'protect him from the cockblock twins' and not make him stay with the girls."  
  
"Psych?  That bad?" Bruce asked quietly.  
  
Steve nodded.  "He just needs some quiet time, I hope.  And some therapy," he added.  Clint very pointedly avoided everyone's gaze.  
  
"So what's this meeting all about, Cap?" Tony asked.  "I'm going to be dangerously decaffienated in the next thirty minutes so let's get on with the boring stuff."  
  
The point, yeah, he started with one.  "Sure.  So, I just wanted to let you know, as my team, that I got a new job."  
  
"Wait - you're quitting?" Clint asked before he could go any further.  
  
"I'm a consultant only right now, none of that's going to change.  But I took a guest professor position at one of the local universities and I wanted to be up front about it so none of you call me 'Cap' if you run into me off the clock," Steve said.  
  
"Full stop.  A professor?  Of what?" Tony asked.  
  
"Serum jacked his brain," Maria spoke up.  "It's not in any of the files and he won't come in to let Fury have it checked," she added to Natasha.  
  
"I'm going to do a lecture series on Göbel's incompleteness theorems," Steve said.  Tony snapped his mouth closed.  "If they go over well enough, they want me to do some small classroom settings, labs, I think?"  
  
Clint raised his hand.  
  
"Math," Natasha stated.  Clint put down his hand.  
  
"Göbel.  Really?" Tony asked after a beat.  "Did you know him?"  
  
"Turing, too," Bruce whispered.  
  
"Jesus Christ.  Did my dad - " Tony started.  
  
Steve shook his head.  "No, your dad was more interested in the kind of math that could make him richer.  Loved the guy, but he wasn't really into writing on a blackboard when he could be making cars fly.  Or not."  
  
"We - we're going to talk about that when I'm less sober," Tony said.  
  
Bruce tapped at his phone and passed it to Tony.  "Showing him your papers.  And I expect a seat at your first couple of seminars.  For support, of course."  
  
"As long as you have a good cover story as to why you're at a math seminar at a college you have no link to," Maria said helpfully.  
  
"We'll go incognito," Tony said absently.  
  
Huh.  
  
"Not fair.  Why couldn't you have a cool hobby," Clint muttered.  
  
"He's got tickets to every upcoming Comicon on the East Coast," Maria stage-whispered.  
  
"You - uninvited to the meeting now," Steve ordered Maria when Clint's sharp eyes snapped to him.  
  
"And season tickets to the ballet," Maria called over her shoulder to tease Natasha as she scuttled out of the room.  
  
"She better be glad that I want to see that movie tonight," Steve muttered.  
  
Bruce leaned forward.  "Steve.  Congratulations."  
  
"Yeah, Cap.  Good job, let's be best friends now," Clint echoed.  
  
"Sorry, pretty sure he's a science bro now.  Or at least step-bro," Tony said absently, scrolling through the screen without looking up.  "How did Thor find out before us, anyway?"  
  
"His girl's a genius, like, insanely smart.  He thought I was 'stealing her affections' when I really just wanted to see her equations."  
  
Natasha massaged her forehead.  "I can't with any of you right now."  
  
    * * *

**Author's Note:**

> In all my headcanons of Smart!Steve, he becomes BFFs with Dr. Selvig because who wouldn't? I totally picture Maria & Natasha lounging on the couch while Steve, Selvig, Bruce & Tony have pants-less math discussions in their boxers. (Jane comes sometimes but they wear pants on those days because Selvig is totally not comfortable with his protegee being pants-less.)


End file.
